Archive for October, 2009

Ubisoft have out done themselves. Not only do they have an incredible stable of titles that they produce. But now they are making movies of those same titles. They have acquired Hybride Technologies, the special effects company that help make 300 what it was. Yes, Ubisoft owns them now. So you would expect these movie shorts to be quite nice. All this was done without Hollywood. It looks like the entertainment industry is in for some big surprises. And it starts with Assassins Creed. This is just FANTASTICALLY AWESOME. Take a look.

At least five months away and on the must buy list for most PS3 owners. God of War 3 is remaining quite silent. The Demo is supposed to be available for all those that preorder the God of War Collection. No word when us non pre order guys will get a taste of that demo. Until then, look at this and dream on. Pretty aint it.

I know that the filming process has already begun, but it is in my personal opinion that we should start a petition to replace Ryan Reynolds with Nathan Fillion. Not only have I thought right from the get-go that he has a great look for Hal Jordan, but anyone who’s seen Joss Whedon’s FIREFLY or SERENITY can attest that his attitude and wit would fit the character as well. Now, of course I’m not going to ACTUALLY start PASSING around a piece of paper for everyone to sign, but I thought you should know how I feel, and perhaps wanted to plant the seeds of dissent


Imagine he was wearing a bomber jacket in the last photo, pre Abin Sur. Tell me I’m wrong. That was rhetorical, by the way. Let me know what you think.

Hey, if all else failed they could have just given the role to this guy… Sorry, had to do it. –ExSleepyInk

First off…have you experienced 2k Games latest questing symphony, BORDERLANDS? If not, do you have a well prepared excuse? Don’t worry, I’m the ever vigilant skeptic as well.
The game is a RPS (Role Playing Shooter) with wayyyyyyyyy more than its fair share of firepower to offer. In fact, there is a seemingly endless variety of each class of weaponry to choose from. Model after model, upgrade after upgrade, you’ll find yourself constantly dropping something out of your abundant arsenal, or selling it to a nearby vendor, to fit in the next best thing. I’m only past level ten and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing in that respect.

Kill them with kindness. Who am I kidding, plow em down and ask questions never!

You get to choose between four characters with vastly different unlockable talents: a soldier with a fantastic auto turret, a hunter with the ability to launch a bird of prey at enemies from a distance

Kentucky Fried Fleshwound

, a phasewalker who can turn invisible, and a berserker who pummels his prey beyond recognition. The game, which uses everyone’s favorite UNREAL TECHNOLOGY, can be played either alone, through two player splitscreen, or up to four player online co-op. You can alternate between the latter two and single player and still retain all your characters skills and saves, which is a plus. There is also an arena mode which I have yet to try out.
It can feel slightly overwhelming in the beginning, between the weapon and ammo types, and figuring out how to handle the enemies, but not too long after the addiction begins to set in. Fans of Oblivion and Fallout will feel close to home.
The music is really cool as well. Contemporary spaghetti western themes really put the finishing touches into the extraterrestrial wild west atmosphere, pulling you deep into the bleak, but fun as hell, experience. If you like challenging looting games, those of the dungeon crawler and treasure hunting ilk, you shouldn’t be dissapointed. There are endless unlocked safes, lunchboxes, lockers, dumpsters, and piles of what seem to be skag droppings (You’ll see) to sift through for cash and goodies. The leveling system bar reminds me of World of Warcraft; it’s easily visible on the bottom of the screen and lets you know how far you have to go, a.k.a how many casualties it will take, to get points towards building your characters skill set. You will find that to be one of the simplest procedures in the game. You can even buy back points and put them towards a different skill or attributes.

Rack em up, rack em up!

The thick cell shading is kind of stylish too. It overly defines everything in the game quite like a cartoon or a graphic novel, while still remaining realistic. This, in my opinion, seems to keep the graphics fresh (and has been seen before in lesser fine tuned games such as Crackdown).
Now, on to the down side. I originally bought the game to play cooperatively with two people on one TV. To make a long story short, I was turned off by the vertically split screen right off the bat. Ok, yeah, this is coming from a guy who plays Left4Dead with his girlfriend religiously, and Borderlands was originally going to be the cool tide-over until Valve’s sequel; but the comfort zone of a horizontal split screen, and present lack there of, had only 50% to do with my aggitation. The mere lack of an alternative option is what irked me the most. After the initial head and neck ache, I got used to the limited view. The trick was warding off the disorientation by trying to make believe the other player’s screen wasn’t there. Maybe this won’t make a dent in your experience at all and I’ve just gotten used to the same thing for too long. You never know. Keep in mind that this is a personal preference, and it only occurrs at said time.
I’ve also heard a few complaints concerning the oddity of the games vehicle control. It requires the use of both right and left sticks to drive. No trigger or A button for gas on this one. I agree that it can be a little annoying at first, but it is nothing you won’t get used to after a few tries. The plus side is that not much can stand up to your vehicle, at least in the early stages of the game. With one player at the wheel with a machine gun, and the other helming the rocket turret, you reduce enemies to smoldering parts. The fact that, like Grand Theft Auto III’s tank, the car blows up anyone it hits, doesn’t hurt your chances of making it out of a mission intact either. The only other minor detractor is that you can’t take the two player splitscreen into a four player online co-op. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you could with Left4Dead ! Lame. But, I forgive them because the game kicks butt! Yeah, I started a sentence with “but”, what of it?! I suggest you give the game a whirl with and without other people, and have a blast!

I know that you all saw my little L4D2 article, and I’m sure you are all peeing your pants in wait for the sequel to Bioshock early next year, but I want to take a second to talk about a game being released next week. Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. A few months ago I heard talk that Big Blue Bubble and Aspyr Media were developing their answer to Oblivion for the hand held console. The idea sprung from a series of choose your own adventure role playing books from the eighties. From what I have seen, it is not only first person, humorous, free roaming and fashioned with sweet graphics, but the biggest shocker is that it is for the DS! My hopes are high for this one. I’ve read some cynical previews as well, so I found someone who is going to let me get my hands on it ahead of time in order to give you my personal opinion.

Stay tuned —ExSleepyInk

This is just one of those things that I can’t remain silent about. Sometimes games fall below our expectations. And it pisses the fans off. This is a big deal with zealots I guess, who knows. But when a game that is obviously very good if not great gets ragged on it really sucks for the developers.

Resistance 2 was in my sight an awesome game. A 10 out of 10. A game that is recommended to buyers when they purchase a PS3. Nothing less than a must have title for all PS3 owners. With a great story. A main character that is just so much more than the regular run of the mill hero. Graphics and music to please the most hardcore of gamers.

Then why is it that there is a rampaging anti Resistance 2 movement moving through the internet like wild fire. The game itself is nearly a year old. Now all of a sudden the fans hate Resistance 2. Some even went as far to say the game design was “like your dog turned on you”. Some one has a sick dog in their house. This is insane. Did I play a different game tham every body else? Do I just like sucky games? I think not. People for the most part can be overly critical. Especially when their not doing the work. To me it seems that all the “Fans” want is another Modern Warfare clone. James Stevenson Insomniacs senior community manager, says that the overall fan opinion of the game was a failure. It’s shameful for such an excellent product to get such raggedy fanfare.

Resistance 2 was a bit different from the original. Progress works that way. With the story being told directly from Nathan Hales perspective instead of the over world voice over. The Sentinels incorporated into the story. And the ability to carry a hundred weapons striped down to only two. Many of these things it seemed that the fans didn’t like. Fools!!!!!! Most of these changes were made probably to increase the need to use strategy and give the game more depth. It seems that most of us ,”people” will never be satisfied. Insomniac did a terrific job on Resistance 2. I truly look forward to the release of Resistance 3, regardless of what anyone thinks. The game was fine. On and off line. Sometimes I believe that gamers don’t evolve the way games do. We remain the same when the games themselves become more than what we’re used to. I’m a victim of that myself. But to stomp a game in the ground for not being exactly what I wanted is just crazy. IN truth the game will almost never be exactly what I want. I don’t make video games. When we play a game. And I don’t mean play it for 30 minutes. I mean really play it. There are so many different factors to look at. When it comes to game such as Resistance 2, we have to look at the story, character, game play and graphics. All together you get a gaming experience that is rarely enjoyed by most gamers. Given a chance Resistance 2 can be the game I said at the begining of this article. A 10. Don’t be a fool. Play this game again. And see the truth. Resistance 2 is one of the great games of this generation of gaming.

I know, I know. Once again I have more pics from a game thats more than maybe six months away. But hey look for your selves. Can you blame me. Right now everyone is hooked into Uncharted 2 Among Thieves, and anticipating the release of COD: Modern Warfare 2. But the future of video games is something we often speak of here at From Heroes To Icons. If you thought Uncharted 2 was a master piece if graphical beauty, take a long look at these new High Res pics of Yun Fang with Bahumat. And Sahz’s summon Brynhildr. And Yes, ALL of these screens are in ENGLISH. If the progress of this game continues at this pace, we won’t have to wait to long to get hands on it.

Here we have a first look at the stars of the upcoming film of the A-Team. Here we have Bradly Cooper as Face, Quinton Rampage Jackson as B.A Baracus, Sharlto Copley as Mad Murdock, and Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith. The film also stars Jessica Biel. Coming to theaters June 11, 2010.

With the game only weeks away you would think all the little goodies had been given out already. Wrong. In Europe  What we call the Master Assassin Edition is called either the Black, or White Edition. I thought it was just the difference in the figures that came packaged with these limited editions. But I always hoped there was an up grade to have this cool looking back cape on a guy that wears all white. Now I have spotted a pic with Ezio in the infamous black cape. This is the only pic I could find, besides the one of the figure. And also he seems to have accessorized the suit with more black. I love it. The thing is , this may be your Master Assassins outfit.  The Dev Diary above explains the fancy new duds. The game itself spans over several years. So by the time Ezio is wearing the black clad assassins uniform he is a Master….Maybe?!. Here’s a peek.

What’s happening everyone? Here are some developer Walkthroughs for the greatly anticipated Left 4 Dead 2. They show what kind of new stuff you can expect in weapons and zombies. Normally Valve takes it’s time perfecting follow-ups (i.e. the HalfLife episodes), and it’s understandable to worry that they are rushing out a game after their run away success, but as you’ll soon see it looks as if they haven’t missed a beat. In fact, I can’t think of one game, in recent memory, that wasn’t unique and worth seeing all the way through. We all remember THE ORANGE BOX…one of the greatest deals in games today.
At any rate, I am psyched about this and I hope you find what I have to show to be helpful. The game drops next month. Enjoy.

…and another for a swamp scene.

Lastly we have a trailer for you. If you have an Xbox 360, this trailer will make you by this game. Trust me. Take a hard look at this Zombie Survival Guide….You’re gonna need it.